The world spins around Liuxiang. Stumbling, he struggles to find his balance as a strange energy permeates his body. Clutching his head, Liuxiang glances around the area, frowning. This was a different forest, with trees adorned by beautiful yellow flowers, and little red blossoms that bloomed on the ground.
His gaze drifts through the area, onto the dirt path cutting right through the path. Just where was he?
“Does Zhi Zhu remember?” Liuxiang asked, before pausing. He couldn’t feel Zhi Zhu on him. Trying to hold back his frustration, Liuxiang walks towards the dirt path in front of him. He’d just have to solve whatever trial had been set out for him by the great spirit and make his escape.
The tournament would be ending soon as well, and he had better places to be in than the clutches of a whimsical grandmother he would rather never have to meet.
Liuxiang walked to the other side of the dirt path and into the rows of trees flowering with yellow blossoms. There were little critters and animals walking around the entire area, and Liuxiang couldn’t help but notice that none of them were showing any response towards him. Normally, any creature close by would sense his aura and flee. That or freeze where they stood completely.
He looked down at his body and quickly realized that his body was transparent.
“Spirit Projection,” Liuxiang hissed. The same thing Lu Jie’s turtle had done to him, but at a far greater scale. His very soul had been taken out and sent to a different location. He’d thought the feat impossible, but it surprised him little that the great spirit could pull something like this. Especially after she had reached the eleventh realm. The greatest height any cultivator had reached in eons.
Putting the thought aside, he continued to make his way through the forest, trying to find where it led. There was something suspicious about the location that he could not quite place, and it was irking him.
“No, you’re scaring her!” a young boy’s voice echoed.
Liuxiang turned to face the voice, caught off guard at not noticing the child earlier. Quickly putting off his lack of spirit senses as a quirk of the spirit projection, he walked towards the voice. Standing behind a tree, he glanced to the side, and watched a child sitting on the ground with a little squirrel cupped in its hand. He couldn’t have been any older than five from his height.
“You shouldn’t grab them by their tail. That will spook them even further,” the boy instructed a girl standing nearby, who was looking on with an angry expression.
“They hate me anyway. No matter what I do, they all hate me. There’s no point,” the girl complained, tears welling up in her eyes.
Liuxiang’s eye slits expanded to be round circles, as he stared at the girl. Her skin was pale, her features just subtly off. Her jaw was a bit too narrow, and her limbs slightly too long. White hair adorned her back, with emerald-green eyes containing two eye slits looking back at the child.
He watched his younger self, and the only boy he’d ever truly called a friend in his home.
“That’s not true,” the boy continued, undisturbed by Liuxiang’s realization. “Your aura is scary, but they can ignore it if they know how to. If you show them that you do not mean them any harm, then they’ll come to you on their own.”
Wiping her eyes, a younger Liuxiang looked on curiously at the squirrel, cupped between the boy's hands. “Really?” she asked, staring in wonder at the little creature.
The squirrel remained settled in between the boy's hand, comfortable and safe. “Yes, really. Now slowly come closer and extend your hand towards it,” the boy said.
The young girl stepped forwards hesitantly. Slowly, she walked towards the squirrel, pausing every time it seemed as if the creature was about to run. Eventually, she was close enough to crouch, as she extended her hand towards the critter.
“Now let it come to you instead. Just put your hand forward gently,” the boy said, smiling as he opened his hands.
The squirrel sat around, brushing its ears and body as it looked around curiously. Soon, the extended hand caught its interest as it sniffed the palm. A moment later, the squirrel jumped onto the extended hand, looking around and sniffing its tiny nose.
Liuxiang watched his past self. The girl’s eyes were shining in wonder as she touched an animal for the first time in life. His heart began to wrench in his chest as the memories of the past began to return.
“It’s… not running,” young Liuxiang said, her eyes widened in surprise. Gently she extended her hand to pet the squirrel when the creature jumped off and sprinted away. A small pout came upon the girl’s face, but it didn’t last long, soon replaced by a bright smile.
“I told you you aren’t scary,” the boy replied, grinning brightly at the girl.
“Thank you Li Yuan!” Young Liuxiang let out a radiant laugh, two fangs peeking from the corner of her mouth.
“Do you want to find some more squirrels?” the boy asked.
Young Liuxiang thought over it, before turning towards the pathway heading deeper. “The servants in the clan were talking about some spirit animals in the forest. Maybe we can make friends with them too?”
“I don’t know. Mother said not to bother the spirits. They are dangerous,” the boy said, glancing over nervously in the pointed direction.
“Please? I hear they’re really pretty!” Young Liuxiang exclaimed, glancing at the boy.
“Alright, but only for a little while,” the boy said. With a cheerful exclamation, the two children began to head further into the forest.
Liuxiang stood where he was, as he watched the two of them go. Did he truly wish to relive his memory of what had happened? What was the point of all of this? To make him miserable?
Glancing towards the children, Liuxiang turned away and began to make his way in the opposite direction. There had to be a solution to this. A way to escape.
Taking a deep breath, Liuxiang rushed towards the inner walls of the courtyard. To the place he had once called home.
The path passed by quickly, as Liuxiang rushed through the massive courtyard. Trusting his memory, he made his way unseen through the inner walls. Walking more slowly now, Liuxiang began to follow the path based on faint memory as he explored the clan grounds.
Poison Qi filled the area, little denotations of serpents and their ancestor marking every nook and cranny, alongside the symbol of the Shie clan itself.
Liuxiang walked aimlessly, taking in the sights. Memories of a forgotten childhood returned to him.
“Has anyone seen the young mistress?” a voice called out. Liuxiang turned to see a woman wearing servant clothing walking around.
“Isn’t the young mistress playing with your son?” another servant spoke to the woman.
“I had left them in the courtyard inside, but I can’t see them anywhere now. The Master is calling for the young mistress,” the woman exclaimed.
Quickly, more and more servants began to run around trying to search for the young mistress.
Liuxiang ignored the chaos as people ran about trying to find the lost young mistress for one particular thing. His father had called for him. His father never called for him. He’d only met his father thrice in his entire childhood.
Lixuaing walked ahead through the corridor connecting the buildings together. He rushed past the people coming by, walking into the building that connected the central halls of the clan.
Liuxiang walked past chamber after chamber, unseen by anyone around him. His path brought him up to an imposing set of doors barring his way.
Even having just visited this place thrice, Liuxiang could never forget the sight of the door to his father’s chamber.
Taking a deep breath, he touched the door, and slid it open.
A man sat inside, behind a desk. He sat hunched, with graying hairs set in his hair. Signs of age that were rarely seen with any cultivator, especially one of such strength.
Liuxiang watched his father in silence. He wore the typical green robes of his clan, yet once the color that had accentuated his youthful visage, now sat like a murky green of filth.
“Who is it?” his father asked, looking up. The man paused upon seeing Liuxiang, his eyes stuck onto him.
Liuxiang found his breath stuck in his chest, as his father watched him. He was tempted to look behind him, to see if there was someone who his father was reacting to in such a way. Yet something in his spirit told him that there was no one behind. That it was him, that his father saw.
A defeated sigh broke out of the man’s mouth, as he looked up at Liuxiang with sunken eyes. “Why have you come here,” the man asked, looking up.
Liuxiang found words leaving him as he regarded his father. Just what was going on? This was a memory was it not? A spirit trial? Then how come his father was talking to him?
“That expression. Grandmother’s trial then. A mere memory fragment to be made a mocking of, that’s all that is left of me in the future then,” the man muttered, yet there was no emotion in his voice.
Liuxiang watched the man look upon Liuxiang with a tired gaze. He searched for any hate, or disgust. Yet the only thing left in his father’s eyes seemed to be apathy.
“Why?” Liuxiang asked, his mouth dry. “Why do you just… not seem to care?”
His father looked on towards him, meeting Liuxiang’s eye. “Why should I? What point is there to any of this? Grandmother has long since discarded me as an heir, and after Xiuying’s death… what’s the point of it?”
Liuxiang clenched his fists, his Qi roiling in his core. He’d thought that, maybe there would be anger, hate, something. Yet all he saw was a defeated man who had given up on life.
“Why did you let her die,” Liuxiang asked, a cold chill emanating from his voice. “Why couldn’t you even save her.”
Liuxiang’s father looked up, his eyes trembling. “You think I didn’t want to?” he asked, a shiver in his voice. “I could have saved her. I could’ve lived happily with her. We didn’t need any kids, I was happy as I was.”
“Then why…?” Liuxiang asked, a tremble in his voice.
“It would’ve meant killing you,” his father whispered, as he sunk his face into his hands, a haunting expression on his face.
Liuxiang watched his father with a blank face. “If you loved her so much. Why did you have me. If you truly loved her so much, you would’ve never—”
“I did not intend to!” his father screamed back as he stood from his chair. A wave of aura poured out and stunned Liuxiang. “I did not intend to…” the man said once more, sinking back into his chair.
“We were not going to have any children. I’d prepared pills to make sure I would have none. I knew the risk, and had no intention of taking any.”
Liuxiang felt his heart pounding, as the Qi rustled in his dantian. “Then… why?”
“Your grandmother needed an heir. Someone who would inherit the bloodline. She convinced Xiuying to have a child, and switched out the pills I’d prepared,” his father muttered, clutching his head.
“I…” Liuxiang stumbled back, staring at his father.
“I cannot bear to look at you… my daughter. I cannot. I see Xiuying in you. And I see her corpse as she cradles you in her arms. Far too often, I’ve considered taking your life, and then my own. Far too often. I would merely kill you one day, if you remain close to me. And if I do that, I would lose my last tie to Xiuying in this world,” his father blurted out, his voice choking.
Liuxiang stared at his father, feeling his heart thundering.
A shout echoed from outside the chamber. Liuxiang turned to the side, and watched the servant woman from before rushing in. The child his younger self had been playing lay in her arms, unconscious and pale, with dark poison coursing through his voice.
Liuxiang turned and saw that his father’s expression had returned to normal as he heard the woman’s plea. Turning around, Liuxiang walked outside the chamber, and saw his past self, weeping to the side.
The child stared at her hands, at the poison that filled them.
This had been the first time that Liuxiang had learnt to use his poison. He’d been incapable of controlling it, as a spirit beast had attacked, and it had afflicted his friend.
The clan had rejoiced at the awakening of the poison bloodline within the young mistress, as a young mortal boy had lost the ability to walk for the rest of his life. And a young girl had lost her first and only friend in life.
Liuxiang watched as his father, the man looking back towards him for a mere fleeting moment before he turned away.
Within a few moments, the world began to dissipate from around him, plunging into unending darkness.
“You are poison,” a voice crawled upon his ears.
“You try to hide who you are. You try to hide behind human skin. Each step, you suppress your own nature, trying to hide the monster that you are. You change your hair, your Qi, your face, your name. Yet the poison, you can never change.”
“No one will love you. No one can. You are Poison itself, meant to bring suffering upon everything it touches.”
Liuxiang stood breathing heavily, as something pressed itself in his chest. It was difficult to breathe.
Was he truly…? Was he truly a monster?
“You’re interesting, you know that?”
Liuxiang rose, a memory replaying in his mind.
“Oh wow, so you can use your fangs to inject poison as well? That’s actually legit cool!”
“I can’t say much… but I know that your mother loved you dearly.”
Liuxiang looked up, Lu Jie’s voice echoing in his mind. The acceptance he had received, and the strange and curious friend he’d made.
The voice changed once more, something changing.
“I told you you aren’t scary,” Li Yuan’s voice echoed through the darkness, as the sensation of touching an animal for the first time filled Lixuaing’s mind.
Tears flowed down his cheeks as he stared into the darkness, and found acceptance. Qi stirred in his dantian, as his skin began to peel. The color of his hair receded, turning a bright white, as it had been upon birth.
“No, I am not a monster,” Liuxiang replied to the darkness. For a brief moment, he felt the touch of his mother upon his back, and the whisper of her voice as she uttered his name.
The Qi in his core shifted. Yang turned to Yin, as the Poison within his body changed and Liuxiang began to break through into the fourth realm.
“I am Shie. Shie Liuxiang.”